Eduardo Arena – Biography
There is no dispute that the first World Surfing Championships were held in 1964 in Manly, Australia under the enterprising eye of Bob Evans. And it’s a fact that Australian Midget Farrelly won that event.
But if you ask Eduardo Arena, the first “true” World Surfing Championships went down a year later in Peru, thus making the first “real” world champion Peruvian Felipe Pomar. Mere semantics? Not on your life. This bone of contention as to who can lay claim to this historic moment carries more than mere bragging rights. It involves the very genesis of surfing as an international sport and places Eduardo Arena in a very precarious place.
What is not in doubt, however, is that Arena was both the organizer and director of a monumental international event held in some of the most challenging waves ever for a world contest among the cold and drifting peaks of Punta Rocas, the first contest held under the umbrella of Arena’s groundbreaking International Surfing Federation. Regardless of controversy, Arena transitioned from one of Peru’s earliest competitive champs to an international leader in the sport whose name deserves its place among the very architects of competitive surfing.
Eduardo Arena was born in Lima, Peru, March 20th, 1928 and later earned a degree in industrial engineering before going to work in the family business, a successful winery. He began surfing in 1948 at Club Waikiki, Mira Flores (and didn’t stop surfing until his 60’s). Ironically, those same waves he rode as a boy breaking off Peru’s Club Waikiki served not only as surfing’s cultural and historical touchstone in Peru but also as the epicenter of the historic contest Arena would run decades later. Peruvians had become very interested in surfing competition by the early 50’s and many began organizing contests in which Arena became involved on all levels. His surfing progressed and he eventually won the 1956 Peru International, which along with the Makaha International in Hawaii would function as a precursor to the later world championship events.
In 1964, he traveled to the first World Surfing Championships in Australia, representing Peru as a surfer. But watching the event unfold, he began formulating his ideas for an organization that would regulate judging criteria and the administration of international events, thus helping to further legitimize surfing by creating standards (like an international judging panel and a standard points system) that would apply regardless of the contest location. There he planted the seeds that would become the International Surfing Federation (ISF), its goal to provide oversight and a central leadership for all future World Surfing Championships. The members of the ISF committee were chosen by vote and Arena was voted in as president. Basic criteria were promptly established in that the ISF would fund the travel of two of each country’s best surfers and one judge. The ISF would choose the location of each event. Arena’s new ISF oversaw the 1965 World Surfing Championships in Peru with him as Contest Director. The event was fully funded by the beach front resort Club Waikiki and the ISF.
There’s the rub so to speak. The sponsoring of travel for all competitors and judges is what Arena asserts makes the 1965 event the first “true” world contest and (at the risk of hyperbole) places Arena at ground zero in competitive surfing history. He points to the fact that the Manly event sponsor Ampol Oil did not pay for international surfers to travel to the event and thus the contest was only accessible to surfers with the greatest “means” not necessarily the greatest talent. Therefore, that contest may not have included a true representation of the world’s best surfers. This sentiment is echoed by 1965 finalist Fred Hemmings, “Not to take anything from Midget’s win, but that event in Peru was more international.”
Competition and controversy aside, the 1965 contest was a huge success. The waves were good and Arena made sure the surfers were well taken care of with organized dinners and lavish parties at his estate in the country. Stories of free flowing wine from the family vineyard and rooms full of beautiful women are legendary.
Arena continued as contest director of several World Surfing Championships, including the 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, and 1972 events. A key to funding travel for the competitors entailed enticing major networks like NBC and ABC to help sponsor and cover the events, thus adding international exposure. In each location, Arena worked tirelessly to create an atmosphere that was more Olympics than surf contest. Australian champion, Nat Young, who endearingly called Arena “El Viejo” (Spanish for old man), marveled at Arena’s exquisite planning and treatment of the athletes at the 1968 Puerto Rico event.
He writes:
“All around the coastal village of Rincon, development had taken place for over a year. Roads and houses were built to be used by competitors and organizers and then to be taken over by the local people… I thought , only one man in surfing’s hierarchy could pull something like this off – it had to have been the work of Eduardo Arena.” (From Nat’s Nat and That’s That)
But the tide was soon to change. Heading into the the1974 event to be held in South Africa, the ISF found itself unable to fully cover the expenses as ABC, its principal supporter, withdrew its involvement. Arena later lamented, “So, after many years of service to surfing I felt it was time for me to step down and I consequently resigned.”
Riding waves well into his 60’s, Arena stayed true to the surfing life and has only to look back on his role in the development of surfing competition for a sense of success. At a time when the World Surfing Championships was the ultimate in surfing competition and the dream of every young wave riding athlete on the planet, Arena was the man in charge. His vision and leadership during a primordial moment in the sport easily cements his place among the great early organizers. Surfing would likely look very different without him.
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